(Bonhams - many years ago) - Aston Martin revived the Lagonda name in 1961 with the luxurious Rapide four-door saloon, a car that was very much David Brown’s personal project. The Rapide’s sales brochure, which unusually was signed by him personally, stated: ‘It has long been my ambition to build a car which would be equally suitable to drive or be driven in...’Beneath the Superleggera aluminium coachwork by Touring of Milan was a lengthened DB4 chassis reconfigured by Harold Beach to accept De Dion rear suspension, the adoption of which allowed rear compartment space to be maximised. Powered by a 4.0-litre (236bhp) version of the DB4’s twin-cam six that would later power the DB5, the Rapide certainly lived up to its name with brisk acceleration and a 130mph-plus top speed. Dual circuit, servo assisted disc brakes restrained this excellent performance, while interior fittings included electric windows, picnic tables to the rear, filler cap remote opening, and radio as standard. Just 55 units, almost all of which were equipped with Borg Warner three-speed automatic transmission, were built before production ceased in 1964. It is less well known that David Brown also harboured a desire to produce an estate version of the Rapide. He had very much liked the Lagonda 2.6-Litre ‘woody’ estates that AML’s racing team had used as tender vehicles in the 1950s, and envisaged a more stylish version of the concept which might appeal to the Aston Martin enthusiast with children, dogs and luggage to transport. Touring was commissioned to produce some preliminary sketches but it was apparent from the saloon’s poor sales figures that there would be insufficient demand to justify production. Touring’s sketches were assumed lost until a few years ago when they turned up in a quantity of drawings and memorabilia sold at auction and came into the possession of this car’s current owner, an Aston enthusiast, who at the time was looking for a suitably stylish ‘dog wagon’. He decided to create the car that David Brown had envisaged and in 2003 purchased Lagonda Rapide chassis number ‘107/R’, the seventh car off the production line, from Desmond Smail. read more on Bonhams auctions - car was withdrawn from auction